Atti and the cats

I had many pets growing up. I'm not sure why we were that family that had lots of pets, not just cats and dogs, but rabbits and guinea pigs and mice and various birds. I have generally had a cat as an adult, one that I had for over 15 years and then I got our current cat. She looks just like my old one but acts nothing like him, and I have never really bonded with her. But she is fine, and very tolerant of small children poking at her.

 Then recently we (accidentally) rescued two week old kittens and hand reared them. They are now fat glorious kittens, who are massively social and funny and who Atti can play with and carry about and we absolutely adore them. So much for finding homes for them.... I really didn't think that through.

But it has been fantastic to watch Atti and the kittens get used to each other. For weeks he wasn't allowed to pick them up or do anything with them - it was hard to feed them so he couldn't really help with that, or toileting or much else. But once they got old enough it has been brilliant. They join in with his play (I am amazed at the variety of kids toys the cats will play with), they are mostly fine with him carrying them about, they follow him around. It is really beautiful, and he says he is their brother.